Tool for tuning stringed musical instruments



Oct. 4, 1955 Z. PETERS 2,719,451

TOOL. FOR TUNING STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Filed Jan. 15, 1954 ZYEr/ /L/NT PE TUE/=35 INVENTOR.

United States Patent TOOL FOR TUNING STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Zygmunt Peters, Portland, Oreg.

Application January 13, 1954, Serial No. 403,711

1 Claim. (Cl. 84-312) This invention relates to improvements in tuning devices for violins, and more particularly for the steel E- string thereof.

The steel string, which has almost universally superseded the gut for the E-string on violins, is difficult to tune delicately with the conventional wooden peg or tuning pin.

Accordingly, it is one of the principal objects of my invention to provide a simple and efiicient tuning device which may be quickly and conveniently attached to a tuning peg for accurately and delicately tuning the string after it has been roughly brought to tune by the ordinary tuning peg.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a device of this character which is so constructed and so arranged that when applied to a tuning peg it will not alter the violin or detract from its classical appearance and will not change the nodal positions of the string which it is intended to adjust.

The foregoing and other objects will appear as my invention is more fully hereinafter described in the following specification, illustrated in the accompanying drawing, and finally pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a violin showing my invention operatively applied to the E-string tuning peg within the peg box and with fragments of the other strings broken away for clearness of illustration.

Figure 2 is an enlarged side view of a tuning device made in accordance with my invention.

Figure 3 is a front view of Figure 2 from the righthand side thereof.

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional detail view taken approximately along the line 4-4 of Figure 1.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing:

In Figure 1 the violin indicated generally by reference numeral 1 has the usual peg box generally indicated at 2 through whose side walls tuning pegs 3, 4, 5 and 6 extend for rotatable and lockable adjustment with respect thereto. The gut strings G, D and A are attached at one of their ends in the usual manner to their respective tuning pegs and the steel E-string is likewise attached at one of its ends to its tuning peg 6 by means of an aperture 7 extending therethrough. Heretofore E- strings were strung from the tuning peg to the tail-piece and depended upon supplemental adjusting or tuning means carried by the tail-piece, which were not only awkward to manipulate but also susceptible to maladjust- "ice ment under vibrational stresses and thereby caused new problems of their own.

The form of construction of my invention as best illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 comprises an arcuate base portion 8 formed integral with a finger grip 9 which serves as an actuating lever. The curved bottom surface of the base is formed on a radius to fit over the peripheral surface of the peg 6 and is provided at one of its ends with transverse notches or serrations 10 to prevent slippage of the base with respect to the peg during adjustment or while the instrument is being played.

Formed integral with base 8 and extending laterally therefrom is a cam element 11 grooved as at 12 throughout the length of the top surface of its lobe to receive a portion of the last loop of the attaching coils of the E- string about the tuning peg.

With the tuning device thus held in position on the peg by the last loop of the coiled E-string as aforesaid, the string is roughly brought to tune by partial rotation of the tuning peg in the usual manner. Following this, through the medium of the actuating lever 9, the base member 10 and cam 11 are moved about the axis of the now adjusted and locked tuning peg to any desired degree in the direction of the arrow applied to the peg in Figure 2. Thus the amount of tension applied to the string, in strict alignment with the groove 12 in the cam, the bridge and the tail-piece, may be so slight as to afford a very delicate method of tuning.

The opposite end of the E-string is attached to one of the slotted openings 13 in the tail-piece 14 by its looped end 15, as shown in Figure 4, in the same manner that the other strings G, D and A are attached to the tailpiece.

While I have shown a particular form of embodiment of my invention I am aware that many minor changes therein will readily suggest themselves to others skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

A one-piece tuning device for stringed instruments, said device comprising an actuating lever, an arcuate base member and cam element formed integral with the bottom end of the lever for attachment in its entirety to a single tuning peg, one end of the curved bottom surface of the base and cam element having transverse notches formed therein for engagement with the tuning peg to prevent unintentional slippage of the base and cam element with respect to the peg, said cam element being offset from the base member and having a groove formed throughout the length of its top surface to receive a portion of one of the coils of the coiled end of a steel string attached to the peg whereby rotation of the base and cam element about the peg will apply tension to the string supplemental to that applied by the peg.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,546,804 Stover July 21, 1925 1,607,575 Staples Nov. 16, 1926 FOREIGN PATENTS 94,051 Austria Aug. 25, 1923 

